Sketches: Seated Man with Head in Hands and Two Figures Bending Toward Others in Background (recto); Reclining Woman (verso) c. 1847 - 1875

Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux rendered this sketch in graphite. Likely made in France in the mid-19th century, it is part of a tradition of academic figure study in preparation for larger sculptural works. Here, the artist captures a man in a pose of apparent distress. The sketch is typical of the 19th century French Academy's focus on the body as a vehicle for expressing emotion. The study was likely completed in preparation for a larger sculpture which was to be displayed in a public space. Therefore, the emotional state of the figure, whether in anguish or contemplation, was intended to resonate with a public audience. To understand such a work more fully, we might look at its place within Carpeaux's wider oeuvre or that of his contemporaries. We can also investigate the records of the French Academy to see how it defined the relationship between the human body and the public expression of feeling.